The Judge added you kept lying about what happened that night, you lied about acting in self defence.

He added: “Once a knife is out, anything can happen – here the death of a totally innocent and unsuspecting young man.”

James Brindley, 26, part time Model and Gym Instructor was out that night with friends for a drink.

He was returning to his parent’s house and was talking on the phone with his girlfriend in Manchester.

Ammar confronted him near the Croft park.

A witness who was passing by in a car saw James had his arm up as if he wanted to calm Ammar, who had a knife.

The witness claims the attacker plunged the knife into the victims chest and it was all over in under 35 seconds.

After James was stabbed, he told his girlfriend on the phone he was going to call an ambulance.

Paramedics arrived quickly at the scene but could not save James.

Ammar dumped his jacket in a bin he was wearing at the time of attack.

Police released Ammar’s images from CCTV footage and was arrested after local people recognised him.

Detective Chief Inspector Chris Mallett said: “We began an extensive CCTV trawl and tracked movements from one camera to another both before and after the attack on James.

“This was one of the largest CCTV tracking exercises ever undertaken in a West Midlands Police murder investigation. It was even more unusual and difficult given that we tracked the youth almost exclusively by residential CCTV for some mile and a half or so from the scene of the offence.

“We discovered that all trace of him finished in Walsall Road, so we focused our attention on the houses in that locality and, coupled with information from the local community following a public appeal, quickly established a person of interest.

“A warrant was carried out at an address and during a search, surgical masks – the type recovered from the pocket of the jacket – were found

“This was enough to arrest the youth and DNA taken from him in custody matched DNA profiles present in the jacket found in The Croft.”

DCI Mallett added: “We have never established the true nature of the events in The Croft which led to James being stabbed – only his killer knows that, but we are certain it was a completely senseless attack on a man who had done absolutely nothing to warrant such violence.

“James was simply walking home after spending the evening with friends, chatting to his girlfriend on his phone as he went. He had everything to live for, he didn’t deserve this.

“The teen claimed he had acted in self-defence which was clearly not the case.

“Through his consistent inability to tell the truth to either the police, the court or the jury, he demonstrated his willingness to say anything to avoid being found guilty of James’ murder.

“I hope that in time the pain that is being felt by James’ family and friends will ease and they can take some comfort in today’s verdict.”